A Different Drummer

<p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>In this engaging memoir Gerard Teachman PhD shares his coming-of-age experience as a young soldier in the U.S. Army from 1957 until his honorable discharge in 1960. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>With each spirited vignette Gerry invites you to experience the humor the humiliation and the life lessons that laid the foundation for his future as an educator and humanitarian.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>A Different Drummer: My Life as a Peacetime Soldier </em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>begins with his working-class roots in Detroit Michigan where Gerry-slacking in college and facing the threat of being drafted-voluntarily enlists with the hopes of attending the Army Language School in Monterey California.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>But getting there is a difficult road that starts with Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri and leads to the ominous forest around Fort Lewis Washington.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Through newfound friends and strokes of luck Gerry shares fun and sometimes frightening stories about his exposure to new foods families and adventures. This Midwestern teen raised on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches finds himself worlds away from his roots at extravagant parties at opulent mansions in California and a Mexican restaurant in Tijuana.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Then he gets his wish: experiencing Europe as a GI stationed in Coburg Germany. His emotionally and physically grueling reality continues amidst mean-spirited soldiers and military superiors. At times flaunting a rebellious attitude he's even court-martialed once. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>But Gerry makes friends enjoys romance and travels Europe where he experiences </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>La Bohème</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Don Giovanni</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> at the Vienna State Opera House the Louvre Museum in Paris the Palace of Versailles in France and many other picturesque historic places.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>In the end Gerry returns to Michigan enriched by his military service ready to embark on a fulfilling life as a husband father and educator.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Now in his eighties Gerry offers </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>A Different Drummer: My Life as a Peacetime Soldier </em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>as a delightful entertaining read brimming with wisdom and wit.</span></p>